Chelsea flop Romelu Lukaku is pushing to leave the club this summer, and it looks as though the Blues are doing all that they can to get him out.
The Belgian was signed from Inter Milan for £97.5million last summer but has endured a rocky spell at Chelsea due to injury and also issues away from the field, after admitting to Sky Italia that he'd like to return to Italy after just six months. Inter are looking to re-sign the striker, but on an initial loan fee due to financial issues.
Chelsea were originally asking for a loan fee of £21m for the season ahead but according to GOAL, they're willing to drop this to just £10m after Inter made an opening offer of £6m. It seems like the Blues have given up with the striker and are ready to cut their losses.
The Blues are set to lose a huge amount of money, and their Lukaku return has proved to be one of their worst ever transfers. After apparently resolving the situation following Lukaku's comments about the club late last year, it was assumed that the Belgian would be given a second chance.
However, a message has been sent down the football operation to back Thomas Tuchel's wishes even if it proves to be expensive. There are no doubts among the board as to whether Tuchel is the right man to get the best out of Lukaku, and due to him being consistently benched they feel as though it's time to move on, even if it hits them financially.
The loan fee that Chelsea are now asking for doesn't even cover the yearly instalments that they are paying to Inter for the transfer. But is seems as though they feel they are better off without him for next season.
There are so far no reports on what the potential loan to buy figure would be, but it's likely to be another heavy loss for Chelsea in that department. But the Blues are trying to negotiate an Inter defender as part of the deal, as they begin their summer hunt for replacements after both Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger left the club on free transfers.
The Serie A club, however, are reluctant to include any of Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij, Alessandro Bastoni or Denzel Dumfries in a potential deal, leaving Chelsea in a vulnerable position.
Lukaku left his mark on the club, but not in a good way, after his brutal interview given in Italy last December. Lukaku made it clear that he was unhappy with his lack of minutes at the time and with the team not playing to his strengths. He also angered fans by leaving the door open for a return to the San Siro.
He was subsequently dropped by Tuchel and relations between the two cooled with the German making clear that his preference was for Havertz’s greater work rate. But it looks like Lukaku is edging towards the return he was hinting about, and it will be music to the ears of Belgium manager Roberto Martinez who claimed his striker should assess his career this summer.
Martinez said: "We are talking about players, like Romelu, who have got over 100 caps and are part of this group of players who know the national team inside out. I’m not going to judge or assess the condition of any player until after the summer because it is not a normal situation.
"It is still seven months to the World Cup and probably you will go into the details of how a player feels when it gets closer to it than now. But there will be a lot of players who change clubs or are going to feel a different way in the summer.
"Romelu needs to be assessed on how he feels in September, the same way Eden Hazard does and some others. But he is one of the players for whom the summer could be a big moment for their careers."
